Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-11-22
kAIAkAuA,S PALACE.
The Gorgeous Structure Erected by the
Prohigate Hawaiian Monarch.

was lalu with IQll MaSOnlc ceFellOHidts
(Kalakaua being prominent Mason)
on Queen Kapiolani's birthday. the
last day in the year 1879. 1t stands or
an immense block, close to the heart OF
the city. bounded by King, Richard and
| Likelike streets and Palace Walk. The
palace itself covers an area of l4oxl20
feet. being thus nearly square. 1t con-
sists Of two stories and basement. Ii
has large central tower and smaller
tower on each of the four corners.
From the base to the top of the central
tower it is 81 feet high. The original
surmised cost was $4,000 but by 1880
s45, 900 had been expended and "a fur
Their appropriation of $4,000 was
asked TO complete it. Then its compile
ton was promised for 1881, but at its
opening in 1888 the whole affair was
found to have cost $780, 00 1t is built
of brick (cemented) from designs by
Baker, remodeled by G. j. Wall. and
the exterior is deliberately ornamented,
| while the interior is-well, an artistic
surprise. In all there are forty rooms,
and considering that all but those in
the basement are seldom used, it will
puzzle the reader to imagine what
could be arranged in so many apart
ments. But the Hawaiian Kamehame-
has were powerful and had many visit
ors, besides which Kalakaua himself
has been almost round the globe. and
| the foundation of decorative orders
brings about the PRONUNCIATION of still
more decorative gifts, so that Iolan
Palace is literally loaded with curiosi-
ties, both novel and ornamental. The
| front or state entrance to the
palace. which entrance is only used on
very special occasions, Is on King
street, nearly opposite the Government
buildings. Entering the palace this
way, then. the visitor comes first of all
to very broad hall leading from this
entrance, each side of the staircase,
and then right through to the back or
palace walk end Of tho building. The
first room to the right of this hall is
the throne room, and here is enough
conglomeration of the barbaric and the
modern TO mystify the beholder. All
round the walls are well executed por-
traits of the former Kings of Hawaii,
and ut the extreme end portrait
which both the King and Queen have
often silently gazed upon. 1t is an oil
painting of Kaahumanu, wife Of
Kamehameha the Great who after his
death, became Prime Minister and was
virtually monarch during the short
reign of Kamehameha III. Perhaps
Kapiolani objects to her mamie (.Cap-
tive of Heavenly IA she looks on this
savage danes determined features
and longs to emulate her. But her
spouse knows that those despotic times
have long since gone by. Here, also,
are the marvellous royal feather robes,
the gorgeousnoss of which no one can
imagine The robe used by Kalakaua.
and exhibited in this throne room, is
tho identical m0n,o (mantle) worn by
the great first Kamehameha. 1t is
eleven feet in width and five feet In
length, and made entirely of golden
feathers from the 90, or royal bird.
Only two feathers are found Conc I'M
der each wing) on each bird. As il
takes n thousand feathers to make an
) ordinary necklace, what vast quanti-
ty must this robe contain! And this is
not only the collection of lifetime.
! but the combination of the boards of
: eight or ten successive chiefs. At the
! opening of Parliament this robe is
spread upon the throne rs symbolical
of royalty, but at other times it is al
) ways kept over in the palace, and it is
said that Kalakaua was once discov-
cred alone in the throne room with this
robe around him gesticulating and
voicng forth vowels to his ancestors
like n child with new toy. Kalakaua
| is now iifty-one years of age and has
been drawing $4,000 year since he
started, besides extra money being
. paid his Queen, his and her staffs and
I their household expenses. Although
: the King has m interest in three sa-
9 looms and has some good property in
land, and certainly often helps some of
I his poor subjects yet the mass of this
| wealth goes for the Poi feasts and Hula
0 dances, in which his predecessors also
t reyeled. Even when the white people
/ are now invited, the old name of Luaa
c (native feasD is used, and the g-yra-
e tons of the finger round the calabash
J Of stiektaro form the principal event
! Hula dances are even given in the
I palace grounds, but under great re-
1 strictions. and shorn, in the presence
I of Europeans, of their dominant feat
!. ures, See Kalakaua on a state occa-
a sion, and fairly corpulent as he is. he
l seems hardly to have room to hold his
{ medals and decorations all one blaze
. of useless glitter. But creep down to
t the Union saloon early some evening.
$ There you will see his Majesty King
5 kulakaua Of the Hawaiian Islands, sit
/ ting before Il toddy, dressed in an old
Q blue serge suit, with cheap straw hat
t on the back of his head, and looking,
| ah! far happier, after all, - Boston
, Transcript.
, "A writer in the Nineteenth CeHturl
proposes the establishment of a we'll
endowed kitchen college for the sys
tematic training of domestic servants.
In the morning when you awake